Ask Pastor John

How does God provide the food so that his appointed shepherds — time-pressured, busy pastors — can feed their flocks?

Academia affords more leisurely time to study the Bible, but the pastorate compels shepherds to find daily biblical nourishment daily to feed themselves and their flock.

Discernment and financial abuses exist in charismatic and non-charismatic churches alike. Pastor John urges believers to cling to the word of God.

Flaws litter charismatic and non-charismatic churches alike. Pastor John has two biblical warnings for those who prize feelings over mature thinking.

Do new-covenant prophecies carry the same level of authority as Scripture? Pastor John explains three reasons why they don’t.

Paul told the Corinthians to earnestly desire the gift of prophecy. But should Christians today do the same?

Pastor John talks about his plans to strengthen pastors in the Middle East and asks listeners to pray for strength.

Pastor John encourages Christian loners — even those who have been hurt by the church — to pursue God in Christ-exalting friendships.

All of history details the story of God's redemptive grace through Jesus Christ. We will not forget this story in heaven — we will rehearse it forever.

Pastor John explains how Christian Hedonism avoids idolizing joy.

Jesus surpasses whatever good the world has to offer. So rather than worship those good things, disciples of Jesus receive them as gifts.

The doctrine of God’s sovereignty doesn’t only mean that he controls everything, but that he controls everything for the good of his people.

Pastor John discusses how God's sovereignty relates to joy in God.

How has God designed our community to help keep us in Christ? Pastor John unpacks God’s prescriptions of prayer and exhortation.

God does not traffic in futility or vanity. He intends all things, even terrible calamity, for the ultimate good of his people.

Pastor John explains God's sovereignty over evil acts without himself being evil.

How do we reconcile seemingly conflicting commands from Scripture to hang out with the corrupt and to befriend them like Jesus?

Children are a blessing from the God who commands us to be fruitful and multiply. But how does that command fit in a world with orphans who need a home?

God calls pastors to lead their churches by serving, not dominating, and he calls congregations to follow with humble teachability.

Alcohol consumption is permissible and can be a blessing, but it is also fraught with dangers.

God is working a weight of glory through our hardships, even the ones that seem most trivial.

For Christians, to embrace the definite atonement is to embrace that Christ set his love on them particularly, specially, and certainly.

The forbidden tree was neither an arbitrary test of obedience nor a greedy restriction by a stingy God. It was an insurance policy to secure supreme pleasure.

Although Lewis held several defective doctrines, Pastor John gives six reasons why he remains so helpful to Christians worldwide.

A good imagination transforms the normal into the fantastic. A great imagination sees normal things for the wonders they really are.

God’s pursuit of his own glory is the best possible news for all who seek him because “God is most glorified in us when we are most satisfied in him.”

Walking by the Spirit can seem vague and hard to live out. Pastor John gives believers practical steps to walk and live by the Spirit.

No other motive provides a better foundation for missions than God’s own zeal to be glorified by blood-bought people from every tribe and tongue.

Christians do not celebrate what dishonors Christ. Pastor John gives five reasons why he would not attend a so-called same-sex wedding.

However mundane dirty diapers and yet another meal may seem, Jesus assures busy moms, “Whoever receives one such child in my name receives me.”

Because Christ justifies believers, not their own law-keeping, do Christians still need to keep the commandments?

Christ should radiate in and through every rap song, but the gospel need not be explicitly presented every time. Pastor John describes Christ-exalting rap.

Pastor John describes marks of a healthy church and the combination of factors that may suggest it’s time to leave.

By his blood, Jesus purchased a unified bride in which the saints lay their souls bare and pray for one another.

How should Christians care for their bodies, which the Bible calls temples of God, without idolizing them or investing too much in outer beauty?

We can know Scripture, and we can know the Scripture. Take the time to read and analyze, but leave plenty of time to experience it as well.

How should believers pursue affections for Jesus in a broken world where those affections seem to rise and fall constantly?

Christ has fulfilled the Old Testament law for his people. But does that mean God no longer expects us to tithe?

Ninety percent of our daily decisions have no guiding list. But a mind renewed by God through his word and Spirit can know the delightful taste of God’s will.

The mark of Jesus's sheep is that they hear and believe the saving word of the gospel preached to them.

Pastor John gives a taste of the upcoming Desiring God National Conference, centered around C.S. Lewis.

Pastor John unpacks the story of the rich man and Lazarus to show the great chasm fixed between believers and unbelievers after death.

The Lord can and will show mercy to sinners who repent in the eleventh hour. Yet, spiritual corpses who love their sin cannot raise themselves from the dead.

Believers walk day by day as servants of others because their Savior is alive, their Father is King, the Spirit is present, and their reward is coming.

There are rich biblical grounds for saying, "Yes, believers do need role models in Christ." God has given us one another to imitate.

Marriage — and dating on that trajectory — cannot be the beautiful union God designed it to be if he himself is not in the picture.

There is a time for everything. When confronted by our sin, sorrow is the appropriate reaction — the one that can lead to true repentance.

If you want to motivate your church, don’t start with programs and activities. Start with a vision of God’s glory.

Bitterness flows from a heart that feels the pain of injustice. Forgiveness flows from a heart overcome by trust in God’s justice.

Marriage only lasts a lifetime. The relationships Christians build with one another last for eternity.